Aston Villa earned a hard-fought point as we shared the spoils with Liverpool in midweek, after an entertaining 2-2 draw in our Premier League encounter.
Arne Slot’s side broke the deadlock in the first half, but Villa produced a stirring comeback just before the break to take a lead into half-time.
READ MORE: What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s draw vs Liverpool
Given the way in which the first half had played out though, it was clear that there were more goals in the clash, and unfortunately we couldn’t hold out or find a winner as we battled to secure a 2-2 draw.
Unai Emery will take plenty of positives away from the performance and result, but our usual issues continue to hinder us in our push to try and secure a top-five finish in the Premier League this season.
Villa approach, intent was what is needed in weeks ahead
Both Emery and Ollie Watkins noted in their respective post-game interviews that our performance was positive and it was an improvement on recent weeks as we played with the right approach and mentality to try and impose ourselves.
That in turn led to periods of control and chances created, albeit we were fortunate that Liverpool missed some big opportunities of their own before we had openings to try and secure all three points.
Whether it was the tempo of our play as we advanced up the pitch or our intensity and bravery to pressure and press higher up out of possession, this will hopefully raise our levels and confidence now for the remainder of the campaign.
Defensive frailties continue to be exposed
As we continue to chop and change our centre-half pairing, it hasn’t yet led to a solution to shore things up defensively as we continue to concede goals with our defensive vulnerabilities being exposed.
Although Emery once again noted after the game that we are working meticulously to try and fix those issues, we’ve not been able to all season as of yet, and it continues to be a major hindrance to our progression.
Liverpool are a top side and so it was always going to be difficult to contain them, while mistakes are part of the game. However, we have to tighten and tidy things up at the back, otherwise it’s going to keep costing us.
Garcia reacts well after mistake
Ultimately, there’s no getting away from the fact that Andres Garcia’s wayward pass was poor as it led to Liverpool breaking the deadlock, and he’ll have to learn from that, while Emery provided his backing to the Spaniard after the game as he insists he will never punish his players for those type of mistakes when trying to play our way.
That red mark aside though, the Villa right-back was really positive again as he gives us another key option and way of building our play out from the back in a wider area with his composure and technical ability in possession. His reaction to the mistake was also very encouraging as he got back to his job without allowing it to affect him.
Coupled with his ability to burst forward and give us width and an attacking threat, there is a lot to like about his game, but like the rest of our backline, he must still improve defensively.
Rashford adding exciting dynamic to Villa attack
Both Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio earned a starting berth after impressing off the bench in our last two games, and while the latter showed glimpses of his class, it was Rashford who made the bigger case to be more involved and more consistently moving forward.
Although he’s still missing that decisive end product to really make his presence felt, the Villa loanee adds an exciting new dynamic to our attack with his threat down the left flank, and it was encouraging to see him continuously try to prise Liverpool open with positive intent either through his passing or movement off the ball.
It’s hoped that he can find his goalscoring or assist-providing touch sooner rather than later as we need to be more ruthless in the final third, but Rashford continues to display positive signs that he can be a difference maker for us.
Little room for error in final few months
Things are tightly packed in the Premier League table as things stand, and a win in midweek would have been an excellent result to put pressure on our rivals in the race to secure European football for next season.
Villa are very much in the hunt for a top-five finish and potentially securing a return to the Champions League, but we’re getting to a stage now where our room for error is diminishing quickly to ensure we close the gap and stay in the hunt.
As noted above, there were important positives to take from this game as we improved from a performance perspective, and so having produced at that level against elite opposition, we have to take that into every remaining game.